Mattituck Waldbaum’s could be sold in A&P bankruptcy

The Mattituck Waldbaum’s has been listed among roughly 270 stores its parent company seeks to “sell or assign” as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to court documents filed on Friday.

Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, listed 271 stores for sale, of which 118 have received bids from other companies, according to the legal notice.

No companies have bid on the Mattituck location as of Friday, according to the court documents.

The notice of sale states A&P will attempt to find buyers for “substantially all of their stores, leases, and related assets,” including stores under the Waldbaum’s, SuperFresh, Pathmark, Food Basics, The Food Emporium, Best Cellars, and A&P Liquors labels.

When reached last week, an A&P spokesperson declined to comment; a second phone call was not immediately returned on Monday.

In a press release, the company said customers’ “shopping experience” would not be affected.

“During the bankruptcy process, we will continue to seek well-capitalized partners to purchase 151 of the remaining stores,” the company wrote. “Therefore, we expect that following the completion of the bankruptcy process many of our stores will continue to operate with new owners.”

A man identified as a manager at the Mattituck store hung up on a reporter when asked for comment Monday afternoon.

When A&P announced its bankruptcy on July 30, president and CEO Paul Hertz said the grocery store conglomerate will be restructured to “enable the company to refocus its efforts to ensure the vast majority of A&P stores continue operating under new owners as a result of the court-supervised process.”

The Mattituck location was not among the 25 stores A&P announced would close; the Waldbaum’s store in Riverhead is slated to shut its doors and was not included in the notice of sale document.

On August 10, A&P requested the bankruptcy court allow the sales of its stores. Since then, Acme Markets Inc., Stop and Shop Supermarket Company and Key Food Stores Co-operative, Inc. have all placed bids for some of the stores.